Archived report · 2 min read · Set in The Kessin Crossing ·
The Sprung Cable in the Old Goods Yard
A safety inspection of the Kessin Crossing goods yard finds a steel cable rigged across the old sidings, each strand tensioned to exactly the weight of the wagons that were scrapped in 1971, and the cable tightens each time a wagon-count is recorded.
- filed: Filed after the sidings were fenced
- reference: GY/KC/07
Subject: steel haulage cable, old goods yard, Kessin Crossing.
1. The goods yard was closed in 1971 and its sidings lifted in 1974. A single steel cable on heavy timber posts crosses the former yard from the north gantry to the stop block at the south end. The cable is not listed on any drawing held by the railway authority.
2. The cable is galvanised wire rope, 20 millimetres diameter, of a type used for shunting haulage in the 1950s. It is anchored at both ends in concrete and shows light surface corrosion consistent with its apparent age.
3. Tension readings were taken at five points along the cable with a calibrated load cell. The readings range from 2.8 to 3.1 tonnes, which matches within two per cent the combined empty weight of the eleven wagons scrapped at this yard in the year of closure.
4. The yard records show that the eleven wagons were broken up on site and removed by the contractor. There is no record of the cable being installed, inspected or removed.
5. On recording a wagon count at the north gantry, the surveyor observed a noticeable increase in tension at the cable's midpoint. The increase occurred at the moment the count was entered in the log and was not sustained. The tension returned to the previous value within four seconds.
6. Repeated counts produced the same effect. Counts made in the yard office, at a distance of more than a hundred metres from the cable, produced no change.
7. Recommendation: remove the cable under supervised conditions. The removal has been deferred pending a review of the procedure, as the crew reported that the cable was warm to the touch and appeared to be drawing the posts toward the south end.
8. Observation not explained by the survey: the surveyor's count, entered in the log at 14:20, was recorded as eleven wagons. The log has since been found to contain a second entry for the same time, in the same hand, recording the number as twelve, with the word *one of you is still on the line*.